Bento #54... Shooting and Gardening

I have six brothers. It would figure that at least one of them would have an interest in all things that shoot bullets. As it is... five of them do. And the last one has a good tolerance for them. I, however, have never had a huge interest. I've always seen guns as potentially useful, but not enough for me to care. They asked me to go shooting on Saturday...

They've actually asked me a few times, but I usually have to work. I actually had Saturday off. So I met up with Joe about 8:30 in the morning. We met up with Mike, James, Jeffery, my dad, and a couple of Mike's kids about 9:00 to waste some bullets. They brought the full arsenal. A couple of .22 rifles, two 12-gauge shotguns, two AK-47s, a .45 colt rifle, and about seven different handguns. These people are crazy. And I'm related to them.

Up until this point I had never shot a gun before. Joe started me off with a .22 pistol and then moved up to a .45. I think. I didn't really like any of the handguns, and I think I shot each one of them at least once. They had a kick that I felt like I couldn't control. And that feeling worries me when I'm holding something that could kill another person. Joe said he'd find one for me that didn't kick as much. We'll see.

I went through each of the long guns... The shotguns had a wicked kick, but were really fun to shoot. The .22 rifles were the easiest and most gentle of the lot. The AK-47 was probably the most fun for me. A bit of a kick with a lot of power. It actually knocked me on my butt once. I blame that on the way I was kneeling though. And for the record, that shot hit its mark. I really enjoyed the feel of the .45 colt though. It just felt right.

I don't think shooting will become any huge pastime for me. For one thing, we probably waded our way through $200 worth of ammo that morning. That's a really expensive hobby to have. Granted, I could spend my way through $200 worth of bento supplies without even trying. But I can use those again and again. Once a bullet is spent, its gone. For another thing, I don't find shooting that exciting. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a .22 rifle around my place just in case. My neighborhood isn't the best. But I wouldn't feel the need to go out and practice with it every single weekend.

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I've decided to start a container garden on my front walk. I think the garden is the thing I miss most about living at home. When I was a kid we'd take the salt shaker outside and eat tomatoes and cucumbers right off the vines. Store-bought tomatoes just aren't that tasty. Even the ones I get through Bountiful Baskets.

I don't remember exactly when I decided to do it. Probably I saw a stack of 5 gallon buckets sitting by the back door at work. I had some discussion with my dad about how well they would work as planters and got some tips from him. And I was sold. I picked up one of those little Jiffy greenhouse starters with the little peat pellets and a few different kinds of seeds. Of course, I had an eye on produce that would work well in my lunches. Most things I picked because of the color... heirloom tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, and carnival peppers. I'm hoping I get lucky with the carnival peppers and end up with the purple and white varieties. I also picked up some sugar snap peas.

I'm figuring on having two big totes for the heirlooms and peppers, and four 5 gallon buckets for the cukes, pear tomatoes, and a couple for the peas. Unless I can find two more totes. I would prefer the look of the bigger containers.

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This was a lunch for Thursday...

Salmon, yellow potatoes, and as much broccoli as I could squish in there... I overestimated the size of the box and ended up forcing it all in because I didn't have time to find containers to put the little bit of leftovers in. I don't know how I overestimated. It's not like I've never used this box before...

I had carrots and hummus in the the other layer, along with grapes, pineapple, and a cutie orange.

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Also. The BEST basket yet on Saturday morning.

Watermelon, strawberries, mangoes, apples, oranges, bananas, two bunches of asparagus, romaine lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, and green peppers.